Alcohol, drug use up among older patients

Substance abuse problems in this age group are increasing but detection and treatment are not clear-cut.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. June 12, 2006.

Drug and alcohol abuse is becoming a big problem for an unexpected population: people older than 55, according to Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration data.

Within the past year, the agency has launched several patient-targeted campaigns to address this trend, and experts and policy-makers are urging physicians to be alert to the fact that substance abuse can be even more dangerous for this age group than for those who are younger.

"Physicians need to ask everybody about drug and alcohol use regardless of age or gender," said H. Westley Clark, MD, MPH, director of SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. "But when you're dealing with this demographic, you have got confounding medical problems. They're taking multiple medications. Their physiology is changing. They're more vulnerable to the negative consequences."

According to SAMHSA figures, the rate of older people seeking substance abuse treatment is increasing at a pace far greater than that of the general population. This development is attributed to several factors. The most obvious is that the number of older people is growing as the first wave of baby boomers hits 60 this year.

But this generation also has several unique characteristics that make drug and alcohol problems more likely, experts say. For example, baby boomers already might have experimented with illicit drugs in their early years and could return to them as they age. They also are more likely to turn to pills or other substances -- legal or otherwise -- to deal with mental and physical health problems. Sometimes the use is legitimate, but other times it might not be.